Pixxel has made a great suggestion! And I would like to add some ideas to it.
Currently, according to the Caviar WD Blue and WD Black specs sheets, the acoustic specs are \ *the same * for both the Black and Blue lines, on the 1TB and 500 GB models (1TB at 28 dBA idle, 33 dBA Seek; 500 GB at 29 dBA idle, 30 dBA Seek). Both are 7200 rpm drives.
WD Blue Spec: http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/SpecSheet/ENG/2879-771436.pdf
WD Black Spec: http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/SpecSheet/ENG/2879-771434.pdf
What I/we would like to see, given the WD Caviar lines (Green, Blue, Black) is, make the WD BLUE drives quieter then the WD BLACKs. Thus Western Digital would have this Caviar line-up:
- WD BLACKs are the: high-performance, high-power, noisier drives
- WD BLUES are the: mid-performance, high-power, *quiet drives (right now they are just as noisy as the BLACK drive)
- WD GREENS are the: eco-performance, low-power, quiet drives
This may be sort-of what Western Digital is striving for, but WD is failing with the WD BLUE line’s noise levels (at least according to user feedback and the WD Spec Sheets).
It would be great if the seek speeds (and noise levels) of the Blue drives were reduced (maybe using FIXED Acoustic Managment settings, so to speak).
Additionally, a ‘firmware’ release for all your drives, that could at least be used once, to make a change to the “AAM” setting of the drive to a quieter level would be much appreciated!
This would allow the end-user to do update their drive’s AAM (or FAM (fixed AM) setting) setting if they can’t handle the noise levels of the WD BLACK drives
Personally I would easily accept a performance sacrifice for a quieter drive - ESPECIALLY since I want to, if I can handle the noise, have more then 1 WD BLUE/BLACK drives in my PC. This method should not run-afoul of any [Convolve] patent issues.
Thanks.
